How can I help my child use beginning reading strategies to construct meaning?
Encourage your child to use context clues to understand unfamiliar words while reading. Teach them to look for contextual hints, such as the surrounding words, pictures, or the overall meaning of the sentence or paragraph. This strategy helps them make educated guesses and derive meaning from the text. Before reading a new text, have your child make predictions based on the title, illustrations, or headings. Encourage your child to ask questions while reading to enhance their comprehension. After reading a section or a story, have them summarize the main ideas or retell the story in their own words. Read aloud to your child regularly and engage in shared reading experiences. Foster a love of reading by providing a wide range of age-appropriate books and materials that align with your child's interests. Encourage independent reading and create dedicated reading time. When reading is enjoyable, children are more motivated to apply reading strategies and construct meaning.
Beginning reading strategies are extremely important for early readers. It is helpful for beginning readers to do a book walk before beginning reading. Looking at the pages and the pictures gives a preview of the story and encourages potential predictions. Before, during and after reading it is important to have your child review story elements, such as what is the setting, what was the problem in the story and how was the story solved etc. When reading to your child you can model these skills when reading together.
Can I start teaching these beginning reading strategies on level A/B books or do I need to wait until the books are longer?
Yes, these skills can be practiced right away. You can talk about how the story has a pattern and only one word or character changes on each page. For example, if the book says, "I see a dog", then talk about all the animals that were on each page.